My first scanned/printed picture

[Kimmutikainen]

Hi all,

I was unsure of where to put this topic, but hope this is the right place on the forum.

Just got one of my very first shot with an analog camera (bronica gs-1) scanned and printed, mostly out of curiosity of how it looked like. I have developed the film myself in ID-11 stock.

What I noticed in the scan at full size (TIFF) was that it had alot of dust and a few scratches. Is this normal? It was dried in my bathroom.
Scratches I wonder is because of the cleaning equipment(Paterson filmdryer).


You can have a look at the picture here: http://500px.com/photo/3979947

Br
Kim "new to analog photography"

 

[stavrosk]

Congrats!
Looks very nice!
What scanner did you use?

 

[Kimmutikainen]

I was in so a hurry when i picked up the scanned and printed picture that I did not ask what scanner the shop uses, so I am afraid I can not answer your question.

Would love some feedback concerning my questions though. It might be all scanner and handling related.

 

[ColRay]

Hello Kim that picture is fantastic.

 

[Helinophoto]

Very nice shot =)

Scratches can occur if you use a squeegee to remove water from the film, or when loading the film on the reel. (randomized scratches)
Scratches may also occur inside the camera (usually straight looking scratches).


I do my best to avoid dust during drying.
The method I use, is to run the water in the shower for 2-3 minutes to create steam. I usually put on the water when I start rinsing the film in the other room.
Then i dry the floor and put an oven inside the shower cabinet. (make damn sure the floor is dry before you do that!).
Then I hang the film inside the shower cabinet, along with the oven on low power (hot enough to dry the film quicker, but not so hot that it will damage the film).

- I've found that the quicker you can dry the film, the less time dust has the opportunity to settle on the film.

Once the film is dry, I cut them into 5-6 frame strips and put them into plastic sleeves, protecting them against dust as quickly as possible.

I always blow the negatives with canned air before scanning/printing, to remove any dust that may have settled while handling them.

Oh, and always use filtered water (buy a jug with a replaceable water filter, meant to purify water before drinking). Removing metals and grit from the water really helps avoiding specks that may even be embedded into the emulsion when it's wet.

 

[George Collier]

I find it difficult to produce a perfectly clean scan from a neg. You should print the neg on paper (in a darkroom with chems) to see how clean the neg is.
You also didn't scan yourself, so maybe the shop wasn't thorough about cleaning the neg. I worked on some images once that had been scanned for someone in a shop - I couldn't believe how dirty they were. Much of my time was spent spotting.

Nice image, though.

 

[keithwms]

If scanning will be your preferred workflow, then let me suggest using a staining a.k.a. pyro developer, such as wd2d+.

 

[Jeff Kubach]

Looks great!

Jeff

 

[rince]

Great image! The vertical 'scratch' though looks more like a photoflo / drying stain mark to me. Try rewashing the neg and see if it goes away.

 

[Kimmutikainen]

Yea,noticed the vertical line.wondered what it was, will try rewash it my main worflow will be printing in my own darkroom when i manage to clean my cellar and buy an enlarger.

Thanks for the nice feedback concerning the picture. I see that it will look better if i cut it just above the trees, makes a whole new mood and feeling.

Br
Kim

 

[MattKing]

In my relatively limited experience, scanners really accentuate the apparent amount of dust and surface imperfections on Black and White film (and Kodachrome). So don't be too discouraged, especially if you intend to begin printing in a darkroom.

If possible, you should try to separate the scanning and printing steps. The one digital tool I appreciate the most is the "Clone/Heal" tool. If you can do your "spotting" before the file is printed, it will help.

 

[keithwms]

Yes, well, for scanning you are really fighting a number of losing battles when you use traditional b&w films and developers. With c41 films, you can at least use ICE. And with pyro you don't see as exaggerated grain. Traditionally developed b&w film was born to be printed... optically... on traditional photo paper!!!!

 

[brianmquinn]

One way I have found that works well for removing drying marks to paint them away. By that I mean I have a small soft paint brush. I wet it with a small amount of distilled water and just brush the spot. Then allow it to dry. It usually takes only a few minutes to dry since the emulsion is not fully wetted.

I also have to say that I have a lot of negatives that don't looks so great as a scan but make fantastic prints. Scanning is a good way to proof your negatives but ususally a real wet print brings out the most in a negative.